5 to 9 years. With his picture book, Sooper Yooper, Mark Newman successfully creates an appealing environmental hero and educates fans on how to protect the Great Lakes. Our hero, Billy Cooper is an UP Michiganer, or Yooper as they are locally called, ex-Navy Seal soldier, and environmental defender. He's stationed in a boyhood dream lighthouse pad complete with helicopter, camouflaged sports boat, and a sidekick bulldog named Mighty Mac. The story unfolds as Cooper patrols Lake Superior looking for invasive species. When he finds them he confronts the foreign shipping culprits who are dumping them from their ships' ballast waters. Cooper then convinces Congress to make it a law for ships to flush out their ballast tanks 200 miles from any fresh water shore. But what is most remarkable about the story is that, although Cooper is a hero and called Sooper Yooper, he does not have super hero powers. He's an ordinary, though muscular, citizen trying to make a difference and he's sure to inspire readers. Mark Heckman's vividly colored and boldly drawn cartoon styled illustrations perfectly complement Newman's jaunty comic book textual delivery. With a frontispiece that is the blueprints of Sooper Yooper's cool lighthouse headquarters and a map in the back of where the headquarters is in the UP, Heckman includes the visual details that create a lasting impression. This book is highly recommended for library youth collections especially in the Great Lakes regions. It would make a great classroom read aloud for K through 4th grade classrooms, as it ties in easily to environmental curriculum. Newman and Heckman have created a hit and thereby too are environmental heroes. ( )